The congratulations of Tokyo Olympic medalists were nowhere to be seen for Belgium's Lotte Kopecky.

In her second Olympics, the 25-year-old expected more. After finishing fourth in the unpredictable road race and coming so close to a medal, she was disappointed with her placement at the time, but the track race at the Izu Velodrome presented an even greater challenge. Kopecky and her partner, Jolien Doll, were among the favorites to win after becoming world champions in the discipline in 2017. Kopecký was involved in one of many crashes, and the Belgian also lost a lap, dropping her 20 points and her chances of a top finish.

"We didn't fulfill our Olympic dream together. That's all I (or we) can say today," Kopecky said in an Instagram post after the midweek competition. 'We did everything we could to fight for a medal! We did not succeed. Still, if you ask me after Madison today if I would have done anything differently for these Olympics, I would say no.

But there was more to come. In the first race of the omnium, the scratch race, there was a big crash near the front of the field and a number of athletes fell, including Kopecky. Despite his injuries, Kopecky competed in the second of the next four races, the tempo race, but it soon became clear that he could not run.

"If it were that easy to make dreams come true, we wouldn't call them dreams," Kopecky said on Instagram after the omnium. 'A lot of tears have been shed here in Tokio, and frustration reigns. It feels awful to give up on an Olympic race. After the crash, I had no power in the pedals."

"I am undergoing some medical checks to find out what is going on."

Kopecky, who is part of this year's Liv Racing team, is on the start list for the Ladies Tour of Norway, a four-day event starting Thursday. If she can make it to the start line, this is a race that could give the fast finishers a chance.

Throughout 2021, Kopecky has been in good form on the road, rarely outside the top 10 and often on the podium, winning Le Samin des Dames, a stage win in the Lotto Thuringian Ladies Tour, a stage win in the Lotto Belgian Tour and the overall title in the Lotto Belgium Tour. She also won both the national road race and time trial titles.

Belgian track cycling coach Peter Peters told Sporza that Kopecky's strong form had made him one of the favorites to win, but a hard blow to his hip made it impossible for him to put any strain on his legs.

"When she fell, she was in a good position but couldn't avoid the crash in front of her. This Olympics should be her reward for all her hard work. Her world is currently falling apart."

This was not Kopecky's first Olympics. In this event, she placed 45th in the road race and held on to the finish line after a long solo breakaway early in the race. Kopecky then finished 21st in the time trial, and while she may have been disappointed with her second Tokyo Olympics result five years later, she quickly concluded her Instagram post by thinking back to her third Olympics.

"Paris is only three years, right?